Episode #162
How to Outrank Your Competition When You Have Less Links
January 09, 2017

In Episode #162, Eric and Neil discuss how to outrank your competition when you have fewer links. Link building is an essential part of ranking your website; however, Neil and Eric teach us that it is possible to outrank your competitors thanks to Google Hummingbird. Tune in to find out how to maximize on Hummingbird’s new update to increase search engine traffic to your website.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 00:28 – Today’s topic: How to Outrank Your Competition When You Have Less Links
  • 00:42 – Links have a lot of impact in Google ranking
  • 00:50 – The “Hummingbird Update” had the biggest impact on search engine listings
    • 01:02 – Hummingbird looks at everything in a topical sense
    • 01:27 – The new update looks at topics and themes
    • 01:29 – “Websites with the strongest themes tend to rank the best”
    • 01:49 – The new algorithm looks for depth and detail
  • 02:25 – Look at these blogs to learn more about Hummingbird: GetRichSlowly, MyMoneyBlog, PennyHoarder, and MagnifiedMoney
  • 02:40 – GetRichSlowly is the oldest website among the 4, but PennyHoarder gets more traffic because of their thorough content
  • 02:57 – More links does NOT mean a better website
  • 03:32 – Hummingbird looks at the overall relevancy of a post, not just keywords like before
  • 03:45 – Use tools like MarketNews to tell you how topically relevant you are for phrases in that space
  • 05:04 – UberSuggest will give you suggestions of what to incorporate into your content
  • 05:17 – Don’t forget about The Skyscraper Technique!
  • 05:58 – Linking out too much can make your website look like a directory
  • 06:15 – Neil shares what his team did for his website to get another 10% in traffic
  • 07:28 – Remove default URL date structures
  • 08:16 – That’s it for today’s episode!

3 Key Points:

  1. Google’s Hummingbird update looks at the whole meaning of sentences as opposed to keywords.
  2. Having more links does NOT guarantee you a top spot – RELEVANCY is key.
  3. Use tools to help you plan and strategize your content for overall relevance.

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